A former longtime electrician for the Chicago Park District was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for helping break through barricades near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, injuring multiple officers along the way.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Daniel Leyden of Chicago was among those “directly responsible” for the breach of a police barricade around the Peace Monument to the west of the Capitol, and that his actions helped set the tone for the mob that attacked the Capitol that day.
Prosecutors say Leyden also raised his arms in triumph after he helped break through a secondary barricade made of metal bike racks, even though at least two officers were trapped underneath it. Both suffered serious injuries, authorities say.
Federal prosecutors say this image shows Daniel Leyden celebrating with arms raised after helping break through a police barricade on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Court records
Leyden’s brother, Joseph Leyden of La Grange, was also sentenced to six months in prison for his role in the rioting at the Capitol, court records show. Both men were sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden.
The brothers pleaded guilty in May to assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers. At the time, Daniel Leyden admitted that he was among the first set of rioters who tried to break through the barricade of metal bike racks manned by uniformed U.S. Capitol police officers.
Prosecutors say Daniel Leyden turned his back to the bike racks, lifted them with other rioters and used his “considerable weight” to push into the police line until the barricade broke and the crowd swept past.
The feds say one officer fell backward, landed under the barricade, was pinned there and suffered a significant injury to her knee. Nevertheless, she later moved to the west plaza and then into the Capitol to defend it from rioters, prosecutors said.
Another officer fell backward, was trapped under the bike rack and suffered a concussion, prosecutors said. That officer continues to suffer random losses of consciousness, they added.
Daniel Leyden’s attorney, Thomas Leinenweber, wrote in a recent court memo that his client “got swept away by the mob, and with it, so too did most of his better judgment and character.”
Leinenweber also wrote that Daniel Leyden worked as an electrician for the Chicago Park District from 1999 until 2022, when he was fired as a result of his prosecution.
The Leydens wound up gathering with other rioters on the west plaza of the Capitol grounds. There, as police tried to maintain a new barricade, prosecutors say Joseph Leyden lunged forward and pushed an officer. Another officer came to that officer’s defense and pushed Joseph Leyden to the ground.
Joseph Leyden’s defense attorney, Patrick Boyle, wrote in a court memo that his client had reacted “instinctively” because he had seen a “young, non-violent woman … land at his feet.”
“Joseph deeply regrets shoving this … officer and he sincerely apologizes for his wrongdoing,” Boyle wrote.
But prosecutors alleged that the Leydens showed “the epitome of disrespect for the law” that day.
